Finally someone has released a high quality neoprene laptop sleeve and better yet, it’s got style.

The Look:
When I first saw the Built NY Laptop sleeve I didn’t actually immediately think of a laptop sleeve. It didn’t have a conventional blocky shape like other laptop sleeves and it had an hourglass shape and shark like gills on the two sides! It was very interesting so I took a closer look and I was further impressed when I found that there were pragmatic reasons for the design and it wasn’t just a way to make it look interesting.

Built NY laptop sleeves are available in blue, black and multi-stripe.

The Built NY laptop sleeve has convenient dual zipper access. The zip has large plastic teeth, this means that my laptop won’t get scratched on the way in or out of the laptop sleeve. Large teeth also means that the zip is stronger and at the end of the day, it gives the sleeve a nice finish.

The inside of the laptop sleeve has a soft fleece lining - I have yet to see another neoprene laptop sleeve with fleece lining or any sort of lining for that matter.

The Wear:
This Built NY laptop sleeve acts like a laptop glove. The shark gills pull the side of the laptop sleeve towards the center, so when I inserted my laptop, it actually hugged it. So I can also use it with a smaller laptop because it will hug it nicely anyway! Now that explains the shark gills and the hourglass shape.

The laptop sleeve has visible zig-zag stitching with high quality thread along its perimeter to reinforce the straight stitching. Again it’s pragmatic but adds to the overall aesthetics of the laptop sleeve.

The Laptop Protection:
The Built NY laptop sleeves are made of 5mm Wetsuit Grade Neoprene. Please note that the neoprene grade is a very important factor when selecting a neoprene sleeve, not all neoprene laptop sleeves available in the market are of the same quality. Most of the other neoprene sleeves use a cheaper, thinner and non-wetsuit grade neoprene material - which means the laptop gets less protection and that’s why you pay less for them. But if you think about it, the whole reason for getting a laptop sleeve is to protect your laptop - so why skimp on the quality of the sleeve, I wouldn’t.

I could definitely feel the quality of the Built NY laptop sleeve with my PowerBook inside, there is a BIG difference from other neoprene laptop sleeves. That’s why Rushfaster recommends the Built NY neoprene laptop sleeve as one of the best available.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Bag Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.